Knitting machine



1944- E. BROOK'SBY ET AL KNITTING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, 1945 m v MN, Wm MN II II II II H\ I 2 x mu l V l r H I Patented Dec. 26, 1944 Ernest Brooksby and Frederick Edward Deans, Leicester, England, assignors to The Bentley Engineering Company Limited, Leicester, England, a British company Application August 7, 1943, Serial No. 497,828 In Great Britain July 20, 1942 7 Claims. (01. 66- -29) This invention consists in improvements in or relating to knitting machines of the type having independently movable latch needles and is applicable particularly, although not exclusively, to circular rib machines of the superposed cylinder ypetr One object of the invention is to provide an improvement in the manner in which loops are transferred from the needles of one needle to those of a companion needle bed.

In order to change from plain knitting to rib knitting and vice versa, or to change the pattern of" rib, loops are transferred automatically from the needles of one needle bed to those of the other, for which purpose transferring instruments are provided to operate with each needle to or from which loops are to be transferred. In a superposed cylinder'type of machine a needle is provided in every trick of both needle beds and where a needle in one needle bed is in action, that in line with it in the other needle bed is withdrawn out of action. Each pair of needles is provided with one transferring instrument located in the same groove or trick as one of the needles.

During transfer, after a needle has been raised, (or considering a needle in the upper cylinder, lowered) to a height sufficient for the loop to clear the' end of the hook, the transferring instrument may be lifted so that the loop encircles and is takenby the transferring instrument. The

needle may now be withdrawn leaving the loop on the transferring instrument to be taken by the companion needle in the other bed by advancing the said companion needle through the loop held by the instrument.

Needles which are to receive the loops from the transferring instruments are selected from those in the out-of-action track and according to ing a loop transferring operation, the initiation of the movement of the out-going needle by engagement with and movement of an incoming needle.

The accompanying drawing diagrammatically illustrates the operation of the needles in transferring a loop from a lower cylinder needle to an .upper cylinder needle. The drawing shows the two cam tracks for the two cylinders in developed form in which the dotted lines I and 2 indicate theknitting tracks for the needles of the lower and upper cylinders respectively; dotted lines 3 and 5 similarly, represent the out-of-action tracks for the knitting butts of the needles in the two cylinders; 4 and 6 show the paths of the needle transfer butts when'the needles are in the out-of-action position, and 1 indicates the level of the butts of the transfer instruments in their out-of-action positions.

These cam systems and the transfer instruments shown are described in greater detail in the specification of co-pending application for U. S. Letters Patent Serial No. 497,827, filed August '7, 1943.

A pair of needles in upper and lower cylinders respectively are shown with the accompanying transfer instruments invarious positions along the cam' tracks in order to illustrate the present invention. Assuming a loop is to be transferred from a lower. needle to an upper one, the knit-' ting butts of the lower needles will have followed the knitting cam track, whereas the upper needles will have been travelling in the out-of-action position. To effect a stitch transfer the bolt cam I0 is advanced towards the needle cylinder far enoughto engage the transfer butt or butts of that needle or those needles in the upper cylinder which are concerned in the transfer. The needle butt then takes the track 6a and the knitting butt of the same needle takes the track 5a to a height 5b where it is engaged by cam II and taken to the knitting track 2. At the height 5b the head of the upper cylinder needle has made or has approximately made contact with the head of the opposing needle in the lower cylinder as is clearly indicated in the drawing; and as the knitting butt of the upper needle moves from height 5b to height 50 the opposing needle in the lower cylinder is pushed a similar distance by head to head contact between the needles therev by taking the knitting butt of the lower needle from the height la to the height to. During this be raised to a height at which the loop is entered by and taken on to the sheath ll of the transfer instrument to encircle it as shown so that the in-' withdrawn by cam l5 leaving the loop on the upper cylinder needle prior to that needle reaching the knitting cam system indicated as a whole by the reference numeral I8.

If, on the other hand, a loop is t be transferred from an upper needle to a lower one, bolt cam I! is advanced towards the lower cylinder far enough to engage the transfer butts of the needles concerned. The butts then take the track 4a and the knitting butts of the same needles take the track 3a. From there they are taken to a height 3b and are engaged by cam l8 by which they are taken to the knitting track I. At the height 4 of the out-of-action track the head of a lower cylinder needle is just clear of the head of an opposing needle in the upper cylinder whose knitting butt is at the height 2a. Movement of the knitting butt of the lower needle to the height 312 therefore pushes the knitting butt of the opposing needl to the height 2e, the heads of the needles being wholly within the trick of the lower cylinder during this movement. The

iknitting butt of the upper needle then engages cam l9 and is taken to the out-of-action track 5. The transferinstruments will have been advanced as already described by bolt cam l3; and although this operation of the needles is not shown in the drawing it will be appreciated that as the needles are moved from the position of those shown as second. from the left-hand of the drawing to th positions they will occupy after engagement and movement by cams I8 and IS the loop will have been transferred from the upper needle to the lower one. i

We claim:

1. A method of transferring loops from one set of needles to another set, which includes the steps of moving a needle of one of said sets into engagement with the corresponding needle of the other set, and by continued movement of said first named needle causing said first named needle to move saidsecond'named needle'while the latter is out of the control or the usual needle actuating cams.

2. In a knitting machine, a method of transferring aloop according to claim 1 in which.

during an'early part of the movements to the knitting track of those needles which have hitherto been out of action, they are engaged head to head with opposed needles which are in their knitting track in the opposite needle bed and push the latter out of the knitting track to a position where they can be engaged by cams to take them in their turn to the out-of-action track.

3. A method of transferring loops from one set of needles to an opposed set, which includes the steps of moving a needle of one of said sets into engagement with the corresponding needle of the other set, and by continued movement of said first named needle causing said first named needle to move said second named needle from the control of one cam track to that of another.

4. In a knitting machine'of the class described, in combination, opposed sets of needles and cam systems for controlling the operations of said needles, the cam track for one set of needles having a gap therein, and means associated with the opposed set of needles for causing the needles in said opposed set to successively contact the corresponding needles of said first named set during their passag across said gap to .push them into the influence of cams on the further side of said gap.

5. In a knitting machine of the class described, in combination, opposed sets of needles, a cam system for actuating and controlling each set of needles, means for effecting relative movement between said needles and said cam systems in a direction transverse to the lengths of the needles, each of said cam systems providing knitting tracks and out-of-action tracks for th needles of its associated set, agap in the knitting cam track for one of said sets, and the other cam system being so constructed and arranged as to cause its set of needles during the passing of said gap to successively contact with and push the corresponding needles of the first set longitudinally so as to bring them into the influence of a cam which will move said needles to their out-of-action track. a

6. In a knitting machine comprising two opposed beds of needles having needles therein, a method of transferring a loop from an outgoing needle in one bed to an incoming needle that is opposed thereto in the other bed, said method comprising the step of initiation of movement of the outgoing needle by engagement with and movement imparted to it by an incoming needle.

"I. In a knitting machine comprising two opposed beds of needles having needles therein, a method of transferring a loop from an outgoing needle in one bed to an incoming needle that is opposed thereto in the other bed, said method comprising the step of initiation of movement of the outgoing needle by head to head engagement with an incoming needle in the other bed whereby movement is imparted from the incoming to the outgoing needle. I

ERNEST BROOKSBY. FREDERICK EDWARD DEANS. 

